


Meet-Cute

by kaeorin



Series: Loki's Lullabies [134]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avenger Loki (Marvel), Coffee Shops, F/M, Nighttime, Pre-Relationship, Reader-Insert, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25759456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeorin/pseuds/kaeorin
Summary: Working the closing shift at a coffee shop isn’t usually all that interesting, but then Loki becomes a regular.
Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Reader
Series: Loki's Lullabies [134]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678240
Comments: 14
Kudos: 216





	Meet-Cute

There really wasn’t much to do on the closing shift at a coffee shop. Mornings were, obviously, more hectic and frenzied, especially in the city, with all the high-powered business people coming in for their morning coffee. Sometimes a family of tourists stopped in to stare wide-eyed at how not-Starbucks the place was, but mostly it was locals who kept the shop afloat. You’d done more than your fair share of morning shifts, and you found that you much preferred the night shifts. The shop wasn’t open 24 hours, thank goodness, but, over the years, closing time had been pushed back hour after hour as the owners realized that, in the city that never sleeps, people are interested in coffee at all hours of the day.

Mostly your responsibilities were keeping the place clean and making sure not to over-produce anything to minimize waste at the end of the night. It could be sort of tricky, finding the right balance between keeping things fresh and not letting them sit long enough to go bad, but you’d found that the vast majority of people who wanted a coffee at nine PM were patient enough to wait a few minutes for a fresh pot—and they tended to be appreciative of it, as well. 

There were a handful of regulars who came in in the evenings. There was a squadron of old men who ordered their black coffees and set up shop over there by the front window to talk about life and the old days and whatever else old men talked about. Sometimes they laughed too loud and startled you, but for the most part they were fun to have around. They kept things lively. There were a few hipster-types you’d come to recognize. They always ordered either a decaf coffee or some sort of dessert-style drink and then camped out at a table with their expensive laptops and their giant headphones. They didn’t say much, obviously, and sometimes they gave the old men dirty looks, but watching them sort of amused you.

And then there was Him. Loki. You recognized him from the news, of course. It was hard to forget the first time you’d ever seen his face: on the news as the city crumbled down around you. But the Avengers had pushed pretty hard to change his reputation. Nowadays, you often saw him in those feel-good pieces that the news tried to run amidst all the doom-and-gloom stories. By all appearances, Loki was a model citizen lately: helping elderly folks and animals and tiny nonprofit organizations. It was hard to miss the way there was always at least one other Avenger with him—Thor or Captain America or Tony Stark himself—but Loki was there too. 

You worked in New York. Every once in a while, a celebrity would show up incognito in the shop, and they always seemed to appreciate it when you treated them just like any other customer. Ignore your racing heartbeat and the wide smile that threatened to break across your face and maintain that almost-bored air of being a regular employee in a regular coffee shop serving a regular person. Sometimes they’d slip a rather large tip into your tip jar before they headed out again. You’d served a couple of the Avengers—Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson—and you gave them the same treatment. Be cool. Don’t give yourself away. Just let them order their coffee and go.

The first time Loki showed up at the counter, you fought _hard_ to keep from gaping at him. He was beautiful up-close, with that gloomy, brooding look on his face. Never before had you been so tempted to strike up a conversation with a customer. But you held steady, even when he ordered his tea _for here_ and you chose your favorite mug for him. 

There was no real meet-cute moment. He didn’t meet your eyes and wink when you set his drink on the counter in front of him. Your fingers didn’t brush as he picked it up. He just...took it and went to sit at one of the tables with nothing more than a mumbled “Thanks”. 

After a little while, when you’d gotten used to having him sitting in the shop, you kind of forgot that he was there. You went about your business as though nothing special were going on: you cleaned tables, checked on quantities of the baked goods, even ducked into the kitchen to make sure things were tidied up and packed away for the night. You did your best not to stare at him when you were up front. He was just another dude trying to exist in the world, and you imagined that he got plenty of people blatantly staring at him when he ventured out into the world. You definitely didn’t want to be another one of them. But he was just...so pretty. He’d brought a book with him, and was clearly lost in the pages. You called to mind an imaginary circle of protection around him to shield him from the others’ attention and just...went about your night.

You didn’t notice when he got up and left, but you noticed the way he’d dumped his tea bag into the garbage and placed the empty mug back on the counter for you. You smiled despite yourself.

And then it became a kind of routine for you. Not every night, but...fairly often, he’d slink in sometime after your last coworker went home and you were left alone there with the night-regulars. Each time, he ordered the same tea, you gave him the same mug, and he sat quietly at the same table until he disappeared into the night. It was kind of nice, honestly. You came to appreciate his quiet aura, and of course you appreciated being able to look up at him from time to time and just drink in the sight of that sharp profile. Maybe you got a little too careless, and started looking at him too often, because he started looking up and catching you. 

Fuck.

Each time he did, you fought the urge to immediately look away and instead offered him a sheepish smile. You really didn’t want to be one of the people who watched him with fear in his eyes. Sometimes you’d notice the way a tourist family came in and stared and fell silent. Parents pulled their children closer to them as they waited for their drinks, and then they skedaddled out of the shop awfully quick. Sometimes you’d catch a fresh hipster looking at him like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. If they pulled out their phones, perhaps to live-tweet their coffee with New York’s Most Terrifying Monster, maybe you found all kinds of excuses to venture out onto the floor—to sweep, to wipe down tables, to mess around at the creamer station or the garbage can so you could block their line of sight. 

Once, one of the old men came back up to the counter and gestured for you to come closer. He spoke to you in a low voice, asked if you wanted him to take care of “the situation over there”. At first you had no idea what he was talking about, until he jerked his chin in the direction of Loki’s table. When you figured it out, you laughed, even though you would have preferred just to scowl at him.

“No, Leo, he’s fine,” you replied as quietly as you could while still speaking loudly enough for Leo’s hearing aid to pick up the sound of your voice. “Hey, he’s quieter than you lot, and he leaves less of a mess.”

Thankfully, he took you at your word, and headed slowly back to his table, all while grumbling good-naturedly about ‘kids these days’ and ‘no respect for their elders’. 

The closing shift wasn’t typically all that nerve-wracking. The streets outside were often filled with people even late into the night, so you never felt alone, even after you shooed away all of the lingerers. But one night, a stranger came in. He was quiet, like Loki, but it felt like he gave off a more threatening air. He ordered a black coffee and then kept coming up to the counter for refills. You saw the way he leaned over to peer into the back when you were refilling his cup, and the anxious part of your brain told you that he was looking to see if anyone else was there. When he caught you looking, he gave you a smile that...felt wrong, somehow. Like maybe he was an alien making an attempt to make his face do the smiling thing that he’d seen other humans do, but he couldn’t quite get it. After a while, when he got up from his table and slipped out into the night, you let your shoulders slump forward a bit as you leaned on the counter and breathed a sigh of relief. 

When you looked up again, your eyes drifted, almost of their own accord, over to Loki’s table. He was looking at you. It felt strange, knowing that he’d seen you look so unprofessional and unguarded, but you stood up a little straighter and smiled at him and then went to pick up the other man’s abandoned coffee mug. Honestly, it gave you the willies, and you would rather have thrown it straight into the garbage, but you knew the owners would have questions, so you dropped it into the sink to wash it later. 

Loki stayed a lot longer that night than he’d done in the past. When you went to lock the door and turn over the sign, you startled when you realized that he was still there in his seat. “Oh! Geez, I didn’t realize… We’re closed now. Sorry.”

He nodded without looking at you and closed his book. He took one last draw from his mug, which made you cringe a bit, thinking about how cold and bitter his tea must have gone by now, and then carried it over to dump the bag into the trash. 

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you—you don’t have to do that, you know. Part of my job is taking care of that stuff when you’re gone. It’s really not a big deal.”

He gave you a mild look as he placed the mug once again on the counter and shrugged. “I don’t mind.

And that’s all he said. You didn’t really expect any kind of deep conversation, but maybe you were a little disappointed that you didn’t get to hear any more of his voice. You fidgeted with your hands for a moment, but then managed a smile and a nod. “Well, then...thank you. I really appreciate it. You make my job easier.”

He responded only with a smile, and approached you—no, he approached the door. You took a few steps away so you wouldn’t block his exit and then bade him a good night as he stepped out onto the street. You found yourself casting a quick look up and down the street outside, strangely certain that the man from earlier was lurking somewhere nearby, but forced that thought away as you turned the deadbolt.

You completed your closing tasks much more quickly tonight than you ever had before. You weren’t usually the type to get spooked like this, but you...just really wanted to be locked safely in your apartment right now. When everything was finished and counted and tucked away for the morning, you grabbed your bag out of your locker and headed for the front door. You could have—should have—taken the back exit, but that let you out in an alley, and that seemed so much more dangerous than stepping into the street filled with people.

You were just in the process of turning your key in the outdoor lock when you felt someone come up behind you and press something to your back. You froze immediately.

“Hey there, pretty thing.” It was a raspy whisper. “Come and have a cup of coffee with me.” 

Your heart was in your throat, which was funny given the way your stomach sank directly into your feet. You carried pepper spray, but it was in your bag, and he practically had you pinned against the door so you couldn’t get it. How could you get out of this? Your mind raced. It kept coming back to the same thought—you were going to have to play along. You were going to have to swallow down your absolute terror and go along with whatever he wanted until you got somewhere safer. Where _was_ everyone?

You were just about to try to force yourself to speak actual words to this guy instead of babbling random nonsense at him when you heard another voice ring out: “Hey, love! This guy bothering you?” It was sharp, with an edge of anger, but the main thing you noticed was how much louder it was than usual. Because you knew this voice. You knew this voice better than you really should, in fact. 

The man at your back stepped away from you, then, and you turned around as well. The first man was the man with the coffee, of course. The man who’d spent all night trying to figure out if you were working alone. He had his hand in his pocket, and you couldn’t really tell whether he was holding a gun or just making it look that way. You felt sick.

But the other man, the newcomer, you knew who he was. It was Loki. He looked especially tall right now, especially regal. He was looking at that other man with eyes that burned. When he let his gaze shift towards you, though, he softened his face into a smile unlike any other you’d ever seen from him. He held out his arm like he was inviting you closer and tilted his head away from the shop. “Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked. He’d sounded almost formal and stiff earlier that night, but right now he was speaking to you like a friend. It wasn’t hard to figure out why. “Come on.”

Before you’d really made the decision to move, your trembling legs were already stepping towards him. You moved too close to him, and he immediately slid his arm around your shoulders to pull you closer. “Did you need something?” Now his voice was ice, and the sound of it made you shiver even though you knew he was talking to that other man.

He didn’t manage any words, just a few sputtered sounds before he raised both of his hands into the air and backed away. It felt good, watching him cower and flee, but it didn’t do much to make you stop shivering. And Loki was _right there_. He could feel it. Still, when the man had fully disappeared, you let out a deep breath and leaned a little more solidly into Loki as relief flooded through you. He loosened his grip on your shoulders but, you noted with some pleasure, didn’t step away from you.

“Oh my god, thank you.” You put as much heat into the words as you could. “I didn’t… I was...” Fuck. There were no words.

“I didn’t like the feel of him either. I’m sorry if I was too forward, but I thought that killing him was probably unwise.” 

You laughed without really meaning to and nodded. “I think you’re right. You made the right call.” You didn’t really know Loki any better than you knew that other man, but already you were so comfortable with him. Funny what sheer terror did to you. “God... _thank you_. I owe you...like...everything. My life, probably.” 

“You don’t owe me anything.” You couldn’t shake the certainty, though, that he sounded pleased. Weird, that. You didn’t even really know him. Still, you shook your head and forced yourself to stand up a little straighter.

“I do. On my honor, Loki, you will never pay for another cup of tea for as long as I work here.”

He smiled, a bright, happy thing that broke and then disappeared like a firework in the night sky. “So you _do_ know who I am. I wasn’t sure.”

“Of course! With a face like yours, how could I _not_?” But your cheeks burned as soon as you got the words out. Maybe that was too much. That was definitely too much. You lowered your head with a nervous laugh. “Um. Yeah. So...thank you. Again. And...forever. _Thank you_. I’ll just...be going now?”

“Wait.” His voice was strong and commanding. It wasn’t hard to imagine him leading an army. He coughed once, and lowered his voice. “Let me accompany you. Could I? In case that lowlife is still lurking?” You must have gaped at him for just a little too long, because he looked away. “Or I could call one of the others if you’d prefer. I just...don’t want you to go alone.”

Your first instinct was to assure him that you were fine, you’d be fine, that he had nothing to worry about. But then you thought about how he’d just looked at you, and how he’d just offered to call another Avenger in case you weren’t comfortable walking with _him_. So, rather than turning him down, you...nodded. “No I—you can accompany me yourself, if you really don’t mind. I’d like that a lot, actually. These streets at night...” That was kind of a lie. Most of the time it wasn’t a problem. This was a nice area, and no one typically gave you any trouble on your way home. But it was _Loki_. “Ah...thank you.”

You took a few steps in the direction of your building, and Loki was quick to join you. Walking beside him was...nice, actually. It did make you feel more secure. You kept stealing glances up at him, trying to decide whether you had the courage to tell him as much, but he looked over at you once and a warmth in his eyes kept you quiet. When you stopped in front of your building, you turned towards him and smiled again.

“This is me. I never thought I’d need a knight in shining armor, but...I’m really glad you were around tonight.” It felt kind of strange to say it out loud, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe he didn’t hear words like that very often.

Sure enough, his eyes widened a bit at you, and then he laughed quietly and looked away. “Same time tomorrow, then?”

He was willing to do this again? Your heart fluttered in your chest. You could tell that you were beaming at him a little more than would have been cool, but you couldn’t help it. So you just...nodded. “Yes, please. If you don’t mind, I mean. I liked this a lot.”

He sank into a bow, then—an honest-to-god bow—and smirked a little at you as he straightened. “I shall look forward to it.”

You felt lighter than air as you carried yourself up to your apartment, then, and even as you fell asleep, you could not stop thinking about the softness in his eyes.

Who needed a meet-cute?


End file.
